Five Trinamool leaders, their driver, killed in accident

Midnapore: Five Trinamool leaders from Murshidabad and the driver of their car have died in a major road accident on National Highway 116B at Marishda in East Midnapore district.

Among the deceased Trinamool leaders are four newly elected Panchayat members. They have been identified as Kandi Panchayat Samiti’s PWD department head Kalam Hazi, agriculture department head Haidar Ali, Purandarpur Gram Panchayat president Samarnath Ghosh, and member Debsagar Dey.

The Trinamool team was heading from Kandi in Murshidabad to Digha beach in East Midnapore for holidaying. They were travelling in a Mahindra Bolero SUV.

As their car was crossing Marishda, some 50 km before Digha, it was hit head-on by a private bus around 6 in the morning. The Digha-Howrah bus had overtaken another car to speed ahead and ended up banging on the Trinamool team’s car.

The collision was so intense that the Bolero SUV got twisted and those on-board got trapped in the mangled car. All the six in the car but Asit Das died on the spot; Das breathed his last at Kanthi Sub-divisional Hospital.

Police actually had to use a gas cutter and make an opening in the mangled car to take out the dead bodies. Soon after the accident, the driver and conductor of the bus fled abandoning the bus with passengers.

Transport minister Suvendu Adhikari, who is an MLA from East Midnapore and in-charge of the Trinamool organisation in Murshidabad, visited the hospital to have one last glance at the deceased party leaders.

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